We have flights booked next summer flying into Paris and home from Copenhagen. It is just my wife and me. We will want to do the touristy stuff for the most part during the day, but also enjoy finding local joints for evening cocktails. It will be our 5th trip to Europe, but not this part. We have 12 days in total. I am thinking of spending time in Brussels and Amsterdam as well, but open to other suggestions. We have 12 days total. The train seems simple enough to get from Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam, but not Copenhagen. It looks like a flight to get there would be the way to go.

So basically I am asking for advice on if I should consider another city along the route and the best way to split the number of days. I am kind of thinking 4 nights in Paris, 2 in Brussels & 3 each in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

If it is our first time in these cities I think you have the split right in terms of number of night in each place.

Having been to all of these cities I would cut Paris to 3 nights and have 4 in Copenhagen which is a much more pleasant place than Paris. But as a first timer wanting to do the main tourist sights you will find more of those to do in Paris.

Honestly Brussels is a bit of a dump and I would struggle to justify more than half a day there. Bruges would be a far better option and only about an extra hour by train.

Train is the best way between Paris, Belgium and Amsterdam but definitely fly AMS-CPH.

IF and just an if, not a suggestion, you could add Hamburg Germany and you could make it a reasonable train trip. about half way for the 11 hour train trip.
But yeah, Copenhagen is not easy to get to from anywhere other than Germany by train.

Why Brussels? We visited Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Bruges. We liked Ghent more than the others but a couple days in any of those cities are fine. ANd if you can somehow stop and check out the Antwerp train station, it is spectacular. (And the restaurant Elfde Gebod (The 11th commandment) is quirky, good food and music) https://elfdegebod.com/

In Amsterdam, I highly recommend spending time in Vondel Park (their version of Central Park) and De Vondeltuin outdoor restaurant therein. https://devondeltuin.nl/?lang=en

Visit a brown bar, preferably in Leidseplein square.
If you like beer, one of the best beer bars, all Dutch beers is Proeflokaal Arendsnest. Well known. https://www.arendsnest.nl/en/enjoy-b...dutch-brewers/

Why Brussels? Just because it was the one I was most familiar with and appears easiest to get to along that path. That is why I came here for advice. To make sure I am not missing out on a better alternative route. Since it looks like a flight is likely into Copenhagen, I am not opposed to going the other direction and hitting up Spain as we haven't been there either. (Our previous European trips have been all to places within England, Ireland, Italy & Germany, so trying to avoid those but we haven't been to northern Germany so could be an option.)

If it were me (knowing what I know nowadays) I would honestly spend 1-day in Paris and 1-day in Brussels.

Both places are dumps. Really went downhill bad and can be quite dodgy. You can see the main bits of each in a day IMO. France and Belgium are both very well connected by train - you can travel about both countries at will, with ease and see lots of fantastic little towns and sights around both countries.

Mechelen in Belgium is a good one and is only about an hour from Brussels with fast and frequent trains. Brugges is another very nice place that won't take too long to get to, either.

France I can give you lots of recommendations for (depending on how long you want to travel by train).

As for Copenhagen, great choice. Again though, Copenhagen isn't a massive city you won't need more than a couple of days there. You should consider getting the train across the bridge to Malmo in Sweden (only about 1.5-hours) or if you're feeling really up for it get the train up to the top of Denmark to Aarhaus and Aalborg.

The scenery, way of life, architecture etc in Denmark is just fantastic. It's a beautiful country.

After looking at your (and other) suggestions, I think I am going to add a few more stops. I don't want to do any trains with a connection. It looks like I can do Paris-Brussels then to Bruges, then to Antwerp and then to Amsterdam airport. So I would obviously shorten the visits everwhere to 2 or 3 nights. I will come back later and ask about Amsterdam. Since I will need to stay there two or three nights and fly out to get to Copenhagen, should I just stay near the airport or would I be better off staying somewhere else in town? Have done no research on any of that yet.

Copenhagen Airport has some decent hotels - and ones to suit all budgets too.

There's a little cluster of hotels that are nice, but a 10-minute walk away at a nearby town (can't remember the name) or 1 stop away on the metro train that connects into the Airport. Very easy to get to and great value for money.

But if you decide to stay in town, that too is well-connected to the Airport (about 20-mins by train on the downstairs lines inside the Airport).

In Amsterdam, stay in town. Very walkable city. And t
its a 25 minute Uber ride from the city center to the airport.

We were just in Paris. It�s fine and easy to spend multiple days.

Thanks all for the replies, but unfortunately after telling my wife about the trip, she had to shoot down the dates. I picked a week with big meetings that she can't miss, so I am starting over. I have us on flights to Frankfurt now and haven't found our return flight, which will be somewhere from western Europe. Once I figure that out, I may come back for more help.

Its about 35 minutes on the train from copenhagen to malmo in Sweden. Trains run every 15 or 20 minutes

You may want to consider a day trip to malmo

Thanks for letting us know. Check back with us when you know where you're flying back from.

Yes, please do.
Since I used to work fairly regularly near Frankfurt and have traveled extensively through throughout that whole area happy to give suggestions.
why not still look at Copenhagen for the return.

I second this.

The train is even quicker than I remember. I've done the journey a few times. Very easy and stress-free but it's a no-brainer going to Sweden too.

I am back. Was able to find a flight on a different date to Paris, so now we are into Paris and returning home from Amsterdam. I wish we could do Copenhagen, but with our new dates we lost a couple days. Thanks to advice I have received previously, here is what I am thinking.

We will figure out what all we what to do in Paris and stay there the appropriate number of days. Unless I can talk my wife out of it, one of those days will be wasted at Disney. Then we will take the train to Brussels. I am thinking 2 days there with one of them being a day trip to Bruges and/or Ghent. Then take the train to Antwerp for a day and then on to Amsterdam for the remaining days.

Just a thought on the Disney thing.
A much shorter (and sell her on the much more authentic french experience) is Jardin d'Acclimatation, right in Paris. And in a nice park to boot.
https://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/en

Alternatively, while it takes about the same time, much cheaper is Parc Asterix.
https://www.parcasterix.fr/en

For Belgium, unless you really want to spend late nights in Antwerp or Brussels, I would just pick one and train to the other. Easy train rides.